the writing was on the wall yesterday when republican budget chairman paul ryan told members they need to be prepared for a debt ceiling increase. the attitudes from republican leaders are a lot different today. senator jon cornyn of texas wrote an op-ed said it may be necessary to partially shut down the government in order to secure the long-term fiscal well-being of the country. now cornyn tells the chronicle editorial board we will raise the debt ceiling. we are not going to default on our ded debt. two years ago, they were gloating over their debt ceiling hostage strategy. >> no president in the near future, maybe in the distant future, will be able to get the debt ceiling increased without a reignition, reigniting of the same discussion of how do we cut spending and get america headed in the right direction. i expect the next president, whoever that is, will be asking us to raise the debt ceiling again in 2013. we'll be doing it all over. >> today, mitch mcconnell doesn't sound so tough. instead of demanding spending cuts on entitlement reform, here is his new demand. the america